Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Role of Governors in State
Mains level: Issues with role of Governor
Context
- In Tamil Nadu, the Governor forwarded the Bill for exemptio from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to the President after considerable delay.
- In Kerala the situation has become a bit curious with the Governor publicly announcing that he would not give assent to the Lokayukta Amendment Bill and the Kerala University Amendment Bill. Such actions by Governors throw the legislative programmes of governments out of gear because of the uncertainty surrounding the assent.
What is Role of Governor in Legislature?
- Integral part: A Bill passed by the State Assembly becomes law only after it is assented to by the Governor.The Governor being a part of the State legislature, the process of law making is complete only when he signs it, signifying his assent.
- Established practice: In all democratic countries, similar provision exists in their constitutions.
- What Article 200 says: The Constitution provides certain options for the Governor to exercise when a Bill reaches him from the Assembly.
- There are four possible scenarios:
- Assent: He may give assent.
- Reconsider: He can send it back to the Assembly requesting it to reconsider some provisions of the Bill, or the Bill itself. In this case, if the Assembly passes the Bill without making any change and sends it back to the Governor, he will have to give assent to it.
- Reserve: The third option is to reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President.
- Withhold: The fourth option, of course, is to withhold the assent.
What are the Legislative practice in other democracies ?
- UK: The royal assent is necessary for a Bill to be passed by Parliament to become law and the crown has the power to withhold assent. But it is a dead letter.
- No power of veto: By practice and usage there is no power of veto exercised by the crown in England now. Moreover, refusal of royal assent on the ground that the monarchy strongly disapproves of the Bill or that the Bill is very controversial is treated as unconstitutional.
- USA: In the United States, the President is empowered by the Constitution to refuse assent and return a Bill to the House but if the Houses again pass it with two thirds of each House the Bill becomes law.
Why there is an ambiguity over the role of governors in India?
- Role of the governor: The question of whether a Governor is permitted by the Constitution to cause uncertainty in the matter of giving assent to the Bills passed by State legislatures assumes great importance.
- Presidential Assent: The provision concerned makes it clear that a Bill can be reserved for the consideration of the President only if the Governor forms an opinion that the Bill would endanger the position of the High Court by whittling away its powers. The Constitution does not mention any other type of Bill which is required to be reserved for the consideration of the President. Nevertheless, the courts have conceded a certain discretion to the Governors in the matter of sending Bills to the President.
- Constitution is silent: the Constitution does not mention the grounds on which a Governor may withhold assent to a Bill.
- No remedy: The Indian Constitution, however, does not provide any such remedy as that of USA or UK . The courts too have more or less accepted the position that if the Governor withholds assent, the Bill will go. Thus, the whole legislative exercise will become fruitless. It does not square with the best practices in old and mature democracies.
What is the Court mandated legislative practice?
- According to Article 361: The Constitution prohibits the court from initiating proceedings against a Governor or the President for any act done in exercise of their powers. They enjoy complete immunity from court proceedings. It is in fact a unique situation where a government is placed in a situation of having to challenge a Governor’s action of withholding assent to a Bill.
- Reasons: Governor while declaring that he withholds assent will have to disclose the reason for such refusal.
- No Arbitrary actions: Being a high constitutional authority, the Governor cannot act in an arbitrary manner
- Unconstitutional: If the grounds for refusal disclose mala fide or extraneous considerations or ultravires, the Governor’s action of refusal could be struck down as unconstitutional.
- Rameshwar Prasad and Others. vs Union of India case: The Court held: “the immunity granted by Article 361(1) does not, however, take away the power of the Court to examine the validity of the action including on the ground of malafides”.
- Pocket veto: since the Constitution does not fix any timeline for the Governor to decide the question of assent, he can wait for any length of time without doing anything. This is illogical and militates against the constitutional scheme in respect of law making by the legislatures.
Conclusion
- The legislature reflects the will of the people and is the constitutionally designated body to make laws. If the Governor who does not reflect in any way the aspirations of the people of the State refuses assent, and thereby defeats the legislative programme of the elected government, it would be against the spirit of the Constitution.
Mains Question
Q.Governor is the connecting link between state and central executive. Discuss the duties of Governor with respect to state legislature? Why Governor tilt more towards centre than state?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: what is IBC
Mains level: IBC reforms
Context
- Speaking at the Sixth anniversary of the insolvency and bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) on October 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country could not afford to lose the “sheen” of its insolvency law, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code(IBC)
What is Insolvency?
- Simply speaking, insolvency is a financial state of being one that is reached when you are unable to pay off your debts on time.
- Insolvency is essentially the state of being that prompts one to file for bankruptcy. An entity a person, family, or company becomes insolvent when it cannot pay its lenders back on time.
- Typically, those who become insolvent will take certain steps toward a resolution. One of the most common solutions for insolvency is bankruptcy.
What is Bankruptcy?
- Bankruptcy, on the other hand, is a legal process that serves the purpose of resolving the issue of insolvency.
- Bankruptcy is a legal declaration of one’s inability to pay off debts. When one files for bankruptcy, one obliges to pay off what is owed with help from the government.
What is Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)?
- In a growing economy, a healthy credit flow and generation of new capital are essential.
- When a company or business turns insolvent or “sick”, it begins to default on its loans.
- In order for credit to not get stuck in the system or turn into bad loans, it is important that banks or creditors are able to recover as much as possible from the defaulter, as quickly as they can.
Why the IBC introduced?
- Increasing Non Performing Assets: In 2016, at a time when India’s Non Performing Assets and debt defaults were piling up, and older loan recovery mechanisms were performing badly, the IBC was introduced to overhaul the corporate distress resolution regime in India.
- Time bound mechanism: To consolidate previously available laws to create a time bound mechanism with a creditor in control model as opposed to the debtor in possession system.
- Two positive outcomes: When insolvency is triggered under the IBC, there can be just two outcomes: resolution or liquidation. liquidation means the process of winding up a corporation or incorporated entity
- Resolution: First objective is finding a way to save a business through restructuring, change in ownership, mergers etc.
- Maximising the value: The second objective is to maximise the value of assets of the corporate debtor maximise the value .
- Credit facility: To promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit, and balancing the interests of all stakeholders.
- Easy exit: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code would provide such an environment to ensure easy exit for sick companies and help the country to improve its position in ease of doing business.
- Speedy winding up: The bankruptcy code will make it easier for companies to wind up failed businesses and bring India on a par with developed nations in terms of resolving bankruptcy issues.
- Time bound disposal: Timeliness is key here so that the viability of the business or the value of its assets does not deteriorate further. It minimizes the problem of delay as there are strict timelines within which the case has to be disposed off. Quick disposal of cases will maximize the recovery amount.
- Information database: It prepares a database to provide information on the insolvency status of individuals. In addition to this, specialized insolvency professionals helps in guiding through the process.
- Easy process of claim: Easy process of claim by the creditors also encourages financial institutions to extend credit facilities thus strengthening the financial markets with increased availability of credit for business.
What are the challenges before IBC?
- Weak Resolution: IBBI data for the 3,400 cases admitted under the IBC in the last six years, more than 50% of the cases ended in liquidation, and only 14% could find a proper resolution.
- Increasing deadlines: The IBC was thus initially given a 180 day deadline to complete the resolution process, with a permitted 90 day extension. It was later amended to make the total timeline for completion 330 days is almost a year.
- In FY22, it took 772 days to resolve cases involving companies that owed more than 1,000 crore. The average number of days it took to resolve such cases increased rapidly over the past five years.
- On Haircuts (Debts that banks forgo):The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance pointed out in 2021 that in the five years of the IBC, creditors on an average had to bear an 80% haircut in more than 70% of the cases.
- As per The Hindu Data Team, in close to 33 of 85 companies so far that owed more than 1,000 crore, lenders had to take above 90% haircuts. In case of the resolution of the Videocon Group for instance, creditors bore a haircut of 95.3%.
What are experts saying?
- Addressing the delays: In order to address the delays, the Parliamentary Standing Committee suggested that the time taken to admit the insolvency application and transfer control of the company to a resolution process, should not be more than 30 days after filing the case.
- New mechanism: The IBBI has also called for a new yardstick to measure haircuts. It suggested that haircuts not be looked at as the difference between the creditor’s claims and the actual amount realized but as the difference between what the company brings along when it enters IBC and the value realized.
Conclusion
- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is a comprehensive and systemic process, which gives a quantum leap to the functioning of the credit market. However, it is the need of the hour to find new and innovative alternatives to make this system comprehensible and address the challenge of delay and resolution.
Mains Question
Q. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is a comprehensive and systemic process, which gives a quantum leap to the functioning of the credit market. Discuss the challenges and way ahead in the resolution mechanism of IBC.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MTP Act.
Mains level: Abortion rights,Persistence of marital rape and need for its criminalization
Context
- The recent Supreme court judgment expands the definition of rape to marital rape for the MTP Act. Marital rape is still not criminalised. If society does not accept “marital rape” as even a moral offence, how will a woman convince doctors to terminate her pregnancy based on the exception provided by the SC’s verdict.
Background
- The Supreme Court has held that all women, irrespective of their marital status, are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).
What is Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act?
- Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years since the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971
- The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s access to safe and legal abortion services.
- The gestation limit: The gestation limit for abortions has been raised from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but only for special categories of pregnant women such as rape or incest survivors. But this termination would need the approval of two registered doctors.
- Doctor’s approval: All pregnancies up to 20 weeks require one doctor’s approval. The earlier law, the MTP Act 1971, required one doctor’s approval for pregnancies up to 12 weeks and two doctors’ for pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks.
- Contraceptive failure: Women can now terminate unwanted pregnancies caused by contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law specified that only a “married woman and her husband” could do this.
- In case of fetal disability: There is also no upper gestation limit for abortion in case of fetal disability if so decided by a medical board of specialist doctors, which state governments and union territories’ administrations would set up.
What is marital rape?
- Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
- It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
- It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.
Statistics on Marital rape in India
- The NFHS-5 survey (2019-21):
- The survey said that 32% of ever-married women have suffered spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence, and 27% have suffered at least one form of violence.
- Twenty-nine percent of ever- married women have experienced spousal physical violence and 14% have suffered emotional violence.
- The form of sexual violence most commonly reported by women is that their husband used physical force to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to (5%).
- Four per cent reported that their husband forced them with threats or in other ways to perform sexual acts they did not want to and 3% of them reported that their husband forced them to perform any sexual acts they did not want to.
- Women in rural areas are more likely (34%) than women in urban areas (27%) to experience one or more forms of spousal violence.
Why modern India still not accepting marital rape as a rape?
- Definition: The definition of rape codified in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) includes all forms of sexual assault involving non-consensual intercourse with a woman.
- Non-Criminalization: Non-Criminalization of marital rape in India emanates from Exception 2 to Section 375.
- Exemption: Section 375 defines rape and lists seven notions of consent which, if vitiated, would constitute the offence of rape by a man. However, the provision contains a crucial exemption, Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape.
- Marriage as perpetual consent: As per current law, a wife is presumed to deliver perpetual consent to have sex with her husband after entering marital relations. The concept of marital rape in India is the epitome of what we call an “implied consent”. Marriage between a man and a woman here implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse, and it cannot be otherwise.
What is the link between marital rape and MTP Act?
- The distinction and the cultural ethos: Married women have a different world attire, jewellery, rituals compared to widows or unmarried or deserted women .So is the right to sexual intercourse. In contrast, unmarried women do not have a right to sex. So what does the right to terminate pregnancy mean for them
- Ownership of women’s sexuality: Unmarried women cannot have sex, married women cannot say no to sex because men own women’s sexuality. Husbands can use the legal remedy of restitution of conjugal rights against runaway wives. Ownership is integral here
- Cause of Disharmony: An unmarried woman does not have an owner. It causes confusion and disorder. Women’s sexuality is seen as a cause of disharmony.
Why marital rape must be a crime?
- Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence.
- Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
- Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
- Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
- Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.
Present regulations in India
- Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
- However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
- Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
- According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
- They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.
Way forward
- Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control of all matters relating to her body.
- The recent judgment on the MTP Act has extended the definition of rape to marital rape which is a big step in the right direction.
- However in a society with strong social norms and value systems every stakeholder should have more than a legitimate motive. It has to play an important role.
Mains Question
Q.While abortion is available under legal regulations in the country, Discuss the relationship between the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Marital Rape.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Parliamentary Committess
Mains level: Not Much
A recent revamp of the Standing Committees of Parliament could potentially worsen the relations between the government and opposition parties.
Why in news?
- Of the 22 committees announced, the erstwhile ruling party has the post of chairperson in only one, and the opposition party from West Bengal has none.
- The ruling party has the chairmanship of the important committees on Home, Finance, IT, Defence and External Affairs.
What are Committees of Parliament?
- A Parliamentary Committee is a panel of MPs that is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker, and which works under the direction of the Speaker.
- It presents its report to the House or to the Speaker.
- Parliamentary Committees have their origins in the British Parliament.
- They draw their authority from Article 105, which deals with the privileges of MPs, and Article 118, which gives Parliament authority to make rules to regulate its procedure and conduct of business.
What do they do?
- Legislative business begins when a Bill is introduced in either House of Parliament.
- But the process of lawmaking is often complex, and Parliament has limited time for detailed discussions.
- Also, the political polarisation and shrinking middle ground has been leading to inconclusive debates in Parliament.
- As a result of this, a great deal of legislative business ends up taking place in the Parliamentary Committees instead.
- The aim is to increase Parliamentary scrutiny, and to give members more time and a wider role in examining important legislation.
What are the various Committees of Parliament?
- Broadly, Parliamentary Committees can be classified into Financial Committees, Departmentally Related Standing Committees, Other Parliamentary Standing Committees, and Ad hoc Committees.
- The Financial Committees include the Estimates Committee, Public Accounts Committee, and the Committee on Public Undertakings.
- These committees were constituted in 1950.
- Seventeen Departmentally Related Standing Committees came into being in 1993, when Shivraj Patil was Speaker of Lok Sabha.
- They aimed to examine budgetary proposals and crucial government policies.
Composition of these committees
- The number of Committees was subsequently increased to 24.
- Each of these Committees has 31 members — 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.
- Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose.
How are the Committees constituted?
- There are 16 Departmentally Related Standing Committees for Lok Sabha and eight for Rajya Sabha; however, every Committee has members from both Houses.
- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha panels are headed by members of these respective Houses.
- Among the important Lok Sabha panels are: Agriculture; Coal; Defence; External Affairs; Finance; Communications & Information Technology; Labour; Petroleum & Natural Gas; and Railways.
- The important Rajya Sabha panels include Commerce; Education; Health & Family Welfare; Home Affairs; and Environment.
- There are other Standing Committees for each House, such as the Business Advisory Committee and the Privileges Committee.
- The Presiding Officer of each House nominates members to these panels. A Minister is not eligible for election or nomination to Financial Committees, and certain Departmentally Related Committees.
Appointing of chairmen
- The appointment of heads of the Committees is also done in a similar way. By convention, the main Opposition party gets the post of PAC chairman; it is currently with the Congress.
- Chairmanship of some key committees has been allocated to opposition parties in the past. However, this pattern has changed in the latest rejig.
- The heads of the panels schedule their meetings.
- They play a clear role in preparing the agenda and the annual report, and can take decisions in the interest of the efficient management of the Committee.
- The chairperson presides over the meetings and can decide who should be summoned before the panel.
How do they work?
- Bills that are referred to Committees often return to the House with significant value-addition.
- The Committees look into the demands for grants of Ministries/departments, examine Bills pertaining to them, consider their annual reports, and look into their long-term plans and report to Parliament.
What are Ad hoc Committees?
- Ad hoc Committees cease to exist after they have completed the task assigned to them, and have submitted a report to the House.
- The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills.
- Committees like the Railway Convention Committee, Committee on Food Management and Security in Parliament House Complex, etc. also come under the category of Ad hoc Committees.
What about Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)?
- Parliament can also constitute a JPC with a special purpose, with members from both Houses, for detailed scrutiny of a subject or Bill.
- Also, either of the two Houses can set up a Select Committee with members from that House.
- JPCs and Select Committees are usually chaired by ruling party MPs, and are disbanded after they have submitted their report.
Why need all these committees?
- The time to speak on a Bill is allocated according to the size of the party in the House.
- MPs often do not get adequate time to put forward their views in Parliament, even if they are experts on the subject.
- Committees are small groups with relatively less demands on their time; in these meetings, every MP gets a chance and the time to contribute to the discussion.
- Parliament has only around 100 sittings a year; Committee meetings are independent of Parliament’s calendar.
How do discussions/ debates here differ from those in Parliament?
- The discussions are confidential and off-camera.
- Political Party affiliations usually do not come in the way of MPs speaking their minds in ways they are unable to do in Parliament.
- The Committees work closely with multiple Ministries, and facilitate inter-ministerial coordination.
How important are the recommendations of the Committees?
- Reports of Departmentally Related Standing Committees are recommendatory in nature.
- However, suggestions by the Select Committees and JPCs — which have a majority of MPs and heads from the ruling party — are accepted more frequently.
- They are not binding on the government, but they do carry significant weight.
- In the past, governments have accepted suggestions given by the Committees and incorporated them into the Bills.
Significance of Parliamentary committees
- Many MPs concede that “real discussions” happen inside the Committees.
- The former US President Woodrow Wilson had observed that “Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work”.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the Parliament of India which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub rules, bylaws, etc. conferred by the Constitution or delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?
(a) Committee on Government Assurances
(b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation
(c) Rules Committee
(d) Business Advisory Committee
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: SC status and related issues
The Supreme Court has sought the most recent position of the Union government on a batch of petitions challenging the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, which allows only members of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions to be recognised as SCs.
The Constitution Order of 1950
- When enacted, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, initially provided for recognising only Hindus as SCs.
- It was then aimed to address the social disability arising out of the practice of untouchability.
- The Order was amended in 1956 to include Dalits who had converted to Sikhism and once more in 1990 to include Dalits who had converted to Buddhism.
- Both amendments were aided by the reports of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission in 1955 and the High Powered Panel (HPP) on Minorities, SCs and STs in 1983 respectively.
What about Christians?
- The Union government in 2019 rejected the possibility of including Dalit Christians as members of SCs.
- This decision was rooted on the exclusion on an Imperial Order of 1936 of the then colonial government, which had first classified a list of the Depressed Classes and specifically excluded “Indian Christians” from it.
Why are Dalit Christians excluded?
- SC status is meant for communities suffering from social disabilities arising out of the practice of untouchability that was prevalent in Hindu and Sikh communities.
- SC status for everyone would significantly swell the population of SCs across the country thus trivializing the purpose itself.
Why neo-Buddhists are included in SC quota?
- The amendment to include Buddhist converts as SCs was passed in 1990.
- Like Dalit Buddhists, Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity belonged to different sets of caste groups and not just one.
- As a result of this, they cannot be categorised as a “single ethnic group”, which is required by Clause (2) of Article 341 for inclusion.
Major concerns of including other religions
- Sanction of untouchability: The practice of “untouchability” was a feature of Hindu religion and its branches. This would imply that India was trying to “impose its caste system” upon Christians and Muslims.
- Undue internationalization: Allowing the inclusion of Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians as SCs could result in being misunderstood internationally.
- Reviving casteism: Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin had lost their caste identity by way of their conversion and that in their new religious community, the practice of untouchability is not prevalent.
Is there a case for inclusion?
- The petitions arguing for inclusion have cited several independent Commission reports that have documented the existence of caste and caste inequalities among Indian Christians and Indian Muslims.
- Even after conversion, members who were originally from SCs continued to experience the same social disabilities.
- This was substantiated in the First Backward Classes Commission’s report in 1953, the HPP report on SCs, STs, and Minorities in 1983, the Mandal Commission Report, etc.
- However, these reports do not have enough empirical evidence to support their claims.
Why is the issue debated?
- Non-deserving beneficiaries: The proposition that caste identity is lost upon conversion, noting that even in Sikhism and Buddhism, casteism is not present and yet they have been included as SCs.
- Continued discrimination: The above-mentioned reports argue that caste-based discrimination continues even after conversion, hence entitling these communities to SC status.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Click Chemistry
Mains level: Read the attached story
Scientists Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create desired compounds and that offer insight into cell biology.
What the scientists worked on?
- Sharpless came up with the term ‘Click Chemistry’ and worked extensively on it,
- Meldal came up with a special chemical structure called ‘Triazole’ which has many significant applications, and
- Bertozzi took the next step of developing click reactions that could work inside living organisms — ‘bioorthogonal’ reactions take place living systems without interfering with native biochemical processes.
What is Click Chemistry?
- Chemists often try to recreate complex chemical molecules found in nature, and this has applications, among other things, in the field of medicine – how to target and block pathogens in cells.
- However, this process can be complicated and time-consuming.
- Instead of trying to wrangle reluctant carbon atoms into reacting with each other, Barry Sharpless encouraged his colleagues to start with smaller molecules that already had a complete carbon frame.
- If chemists choose simple reactions – where there is a strong intrinsic drive for the molecules to bond together – they avoid many of the side reactions, with a minimal loss of material.
Applications of click chemistry
- Meldal through his experiments came up with the useful chemical structure called triazoles, whch are stable and are found in pharmaceuticals, dyes and agricultural chemicals.
- He also found that the reaction he used could bind together numerous different molecules.
- Bertozzi, using the work of Sharpless and Meldal, came up with an efficient and innovative method to map glycans, which are carbohydrate-based polymers made by all living organisms.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ECLGS Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Finance has raised the credit limit for airlines under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), making them eligible for a sum equivalent to 100% of their outstanding debt, up to a maximum of ₹1,500 crore.
Boost for Aviation sector
- Earlier, airlines were eligible to borrow up to 50% of their credit outstanding up to ₹400 crore.
- This is the second time the government has liberalized the scheme for the aviation sector.
- The scheme introduced for medium and small enterprises during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was extended till March 2023 and its guarantee cover expanded by ₹50,000 crore to ₹5 lakh crore.
What is ECLGS?
- Under the Scheme, 100% guarantee coverage to be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC) for additional funding of up to Rs. 3 lakh crore to eligible MSMEs and interested MUDRA borrowers.
- The credit will be provided in the form of a Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility.
- The Scheme would be applicable to all loans sanctioned under GECL Facility during the period from the date of announcement of the Scheme to 31.10.2020.
Aims and objectives
- The Scheme aims at mitigating the economic distress faced by MSMEs by providing them additional funding in the form of a fully guaranteed emergency credit line.
- The main objective is to provide an incentive to Member Lending Institutions (MLIs), i.e., Banks, Financial Institutions (FIs) and NBFCs to increase access to, and enable the availability of additional funding facility to MSME borrowers.
- It aims to provide a 100 per cent guarantee for any losses suffered by them due to non-repayment of the GECL funding by borrowers.
Salient features of ECGLS
- The entire funding provided under GECL shall be provided with a 100% credit guarantee by NCGTC to MLIs under ECLGS.
- Tenor of the loan under Scheme shall be four years with a moratorium period of one year on the principal amount.
- No Guarantee Fee shall be charged by NCGTC from the Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) under the Scheme.
- Interest rates under the Scheme shall be capped at 9.25% for banks and FIs, and at 14% for NBFCs.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Opec+
Mains level: Global fuel dynamics
Oil prices rose about 1%, as OPEC+ members agreed to its deepest cuts to output since the 2020 COVID pandemic, despite a tight market and opposition to cuts from the United States and others.
What is OPEC+?
- The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries.
- OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
- Saudi and Russia, both have been at the heart of a three-year alliance of oil producers known as OPEC Plus — which now includes 11 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC nations — that aims to shore up oil prices with production cuts.
Why is OPEC+ slashing production?
- Oil prices skyrocketed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The cut made recently is the biggest of its kind since 2020 when OPEC+ members slashed outputs by 10 million bpd during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The reductions would boost prices and be extremely beneficial for the Middle Eastern member states, to whom Europe has turned for oil after levelling sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
- OPEC+ members are concerned that a faltering global economy would reduce the demand for oil, and the cuts are seen as a way to protect profits.
Concerns for India
- Even after importing cheap Russian oil, India has not seen any cut in fuel prices.
- Rising oil prices are posing fiscal challenges for India, where heavily-taxed retail fuel prices have touched record highs, threatening the demand-driven recovery.
- India imports about 84% of its oil and relies on West Asian supplies to meet over three-fifths of its demand.
- As one of the largest crude-consuming countries, India is concerned that such actions by producing countries have the potential to undermine consumption-led recovery.
- This would hurt consumers, especially in our price-sensitive market.
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